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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27538303">Erised</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/KadiRose0101/pseuds/KadiRose0101'>KadiRose0101</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Killer's Daughter [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 16:33:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,368</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27538303</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/KadiRose0101/pseuds/KadiRose0101</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Euphemia ventures through the castle and stumbles upon the Mirror of Erised, seeing an image she wishes could come true, but she knows never will. She and Harry have a deep conversation.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Fred Weasley/George Weasley, George Weasley/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Killer's Daughter [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1997173</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Erised</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"The feelings that hurt most, the emotions that sting most, are those that are absurd - the longing for impossible things, precisely because they are impossible; nostalgia for what never was; the desire for what could have been; regret over not being someone else; dissatisfaction with the world's existence. All these half-tones of the soul's consciousness create in us a painful landscape, an eternal sunset of what we are."<br/>- Fernando Pessoa</p><p>9. Erised</p><p>Euphemia woke up later that afternoon after she felt her bed dip on the side. She instantly tried to pretend that she was asleep. She felt someone place their hand on her shoulder. "Effie, it's me. It's George." She was tempted to open her eyes, but she really didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment. She didn't even want to know how George managed to get into the Gryffindor girl's dormitory.</p><p>She gave in to her temptations and sat up, looking him in the eyes. The two stared at each other for a couple of moments before she spoke. "I'm sorry," she spoke softly.</p><p>"For what?" He asked.</p><p>"I keep on doing dumb stuff and getting myself into trouble," Euphemia replied. He chuckled at this.</p><p>"Effie, that's most likely always going to be a thing, but I will agree with you." He sighed. "You have to be more careful." She nodded. "I do have something to tell you though."</p><p>She raised an eyebrow. "What?"</p><p>"After a couple of weeks, Hermione has been able to convince Harry and Ron that you aren't like what the rumors say you are and that you guys could at least be friendly acquaintances and not enemies." He explained and she chuckled at that.</p><p>"That's great, George, but I don't want to really be acquainted with someone who almost hexed me into next year," She replied in amusement.</p><p>He sighed. "I suppose so," They laughed. "Come on, let's go get some food." He said and tugged her off of the bed. She obliged and they walked out of the portrait hole and down to the great hall where everyone was already eating. She sat down next to George and they chatted about the upcoming quidditch game between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.</p><p>Later that night, Euphemia had wandered into a dark section of the castle. She didn't really know what it was because it just appeared. It was a very large room that had a fireplace on one wall and mirrors all around. In the center of the room, there was a mirror with a dark wooden frame around it. </p><p>She walked closer but not quite in front of the mirror where she could see herself. She looked at the strange inscription on the top. Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. It sounds like a bunch of jibberish, but the first word looked like 'desire' backward. I show not your face but your heart's desire. How could a mirror show your heart's desire? It's just a mirror. She thought to herself.</p><p>She walked up to it and looked to see herself standing by herself in the mirror. After a couple of moments, the mirror showed an image of four people. Euphemia stood in the center with a man on either side and a woman just behind her right shoulder. On the left side was Remus, smiling softly; behind her right shoulder was Marlene, her mother, with a bright smile on her face; and on the right side was Sirius, happy, healthy, and here.</p><p>Marlene looked at her daughter with bright eyes that she wished she had seen growing up. The only thing she remembered of her mother was attending the funeral when Voldemort slaughtered the entire McKinnon family. Remus was looking at them lovingly through the reflection. Although Remus had always been with her, she imagined him with her as part of a bigger family. Sirius was placing a hand on her shoulder gently while smiling happily at the scene. He looked a bit older in this image, but still very much her father. </p><p>It looked real enough that Euphemia spun around to see if they were really there. When she saw no one else was there, she turned around and continued to look at the reflection. She reached out a hand and touched the mirror, wondering if it were magical enough that she could step through like Alice did when she had the looking glass.</p><p>It had been so long since she had seen even a picture of him other than the paper. In the papers, he looked angry and like a madman. Here he looked like a father, happy and at peace, not insane and furious. A couple of tears slipped down the girl's face as she looked at all of them and her hair turned navy blue. Looking like they were a family. A family that would never be.</p><p>She heard a voice come from behind her. "I thought they got rid of this old thing." She whipped around to see Harry standing there. She wiped the tears off of her cheeks quickly, hoping he hadn't seen her looking so vulnerable.</p><p>"What are you doing here?" She said in a soft and shy voice.</p><p>"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." He spoke in a smaller voice now. She nodded. "I walk around the castle at night sometimes when I can't sleep."</p><p>"You do?" She replied.</p><p>"Yeah, I was a bit restless tonight." </p><p>Euphemia chuckled. "Same here."</p><p>He sighed and sat down next to her on the floor. At first, they just sat in silence in front of the mirror, looking at their own personal imaginations of what could never be. "I'm sorry for what I did those couple months back. I was just angry and frightened. I wanted to know what was going on," he spoke, apologizing sincerely. She smiled kindly at him.</p><p>"It's nothing to worry about, Harry," She replied. "Just don't do it again and we won't have a problem." He smiled as if there was a weight lifted off of his shoulders.</p><p>"What is your father like anyways?" He asked.</p><p>Euphemia sighed. "He's a really lovely man, well at least what I can remember of him," she replied.</p><p>"What do you mean 'at least what you can remember'? How long has he been in... there?" He asked.</p><p>"Twelve years. I don't remember much since I was so young, but I remember him making me happy." She ran a hand through her hair. "It was difficult to be happy back then because of the first wizarding war, but he made sure that I was."</p><p>"I'm sorry, Euphemia." He replied.</p><p>"Just call me Effie, my full name is such a mouth full." He nodded and she continued. "It was just easier back then when we were normal. We were just a small family and I wasn't known as the daughter of a mass murderer. Of course, he's not that, but that's the name that he's been given." She sighed.</p><p>"I know you've probably been asked this question loads of times, but what makes you think he's innocent?" He asked.</p><p>"Once my father was in Azkaban, they gave us his belongings, including his wand. Remus had checked the wand history to see what spells he had used previously. There was no record of him using any killing curses or things that could cause explosions and I just know, I know for a fact he would never kill his best friends. He wouldn't kill his support system and the people he knew best from seven years of school. He just wouldn't." He nodded, pondering over her explanation and reasoning.</p><p>"I want to believe you, but I wish I could talk to him myself, just to make sure. But I don't think he'll be showing up around here any time soon." He said with sympathetic eyes.</p><p>She nodded. "I've kind of given up hope of him coming back now anyways, I feel like he would have sent an owl by now. I think he's forgotten about me," she said and realized it hurt more coming out of her mouth than just thinking it. </p><p>They fell into silence looking at the mirror, gazing at their desires again. "What do you see when you look in the mirror?" She asked Harry.</p><p>He sighed. "I see my parents standing next to me and who I think are my grandparents, they're all just smiling at me. They all look happy," he spoke and sat in silence. "What about you? What do you see?"</p><p>"I see my father, Remus, and my mother. My father has a hand on my shoulder and he's looking at me with this bright smile like he never missed a day of me growing up. Remus is there as always, looking supportive. And then my mother, she has an excited smile on her face and she has a hand on my other shoulder." She explained, feeling a little teary-eyed once again.</p><p>She wished so bad that the sensation was real and that the image was, in fact, a real one. She wanted so badly for them to be a family and it had been taken away in less than four months' time.</p><p>"You probably don't remember this, because if you did, I think we would have become friends a long time ago, but my father used to bring me over to James and Lily's for play dates with you." She said and he looked at her with confused eyes and then he tried thinking back and did remember a small girl with short white hair sitting in a man's lap.</p><p>"It rings a bell, I wonder why I don't remember more of it." He thought out loud.</p><p>"I'm a little older than you so maybe I remember a little bit more? I don't know." She responded.</p><p>She could remember Sirius and her stepping into the fireplace and flooing over to the Potter's residence in Godric's Hollow. The adults would sit and talk with smiles on their faces and Harry and Euphemia would play on the ground with the toys around them. She reached over and grabbed his hand gently, giving it a soft squeeze.</p><p>"Your parents were some of the kindest people, Harry," she said looking over at him. "They were so selfless and caring and compassionate. It was easy to tell that they loved you with everything in their hearts." She looked at him with soft eyes. "I wish you could have gotten to know them longer." She saw a tear fall down Harry's cheek and he quickly wiped it away.</p><p>She looked at the mirror and saw that Harry, James, and Lily were now part of her vision, realizing that she wanted Harry to be part of her family. She wanted him there like a brother and to be his family, to know that he has someone there whenever he needs them. James and Lily looked exactly as she remembered them in their young twenties. Both of them had bright smiles on their faces. Euphemia and Harry sat on the ground in front of the group of adults with solemn looks on their faces. They both knew that this dream wouldn't come true, but it was nice to dream.</p><p>"It's strange. They all look so alive and then you turn around and they're not there," she stated while looking at the reflections of her family in the mirror, and Harry nodded.</p><p>"I know," he paused and looked over to her. "You can't get obsessed with it though. Dumbledore had to tell me that when he noticed I had been coming here several nights in a row. I was obsessed with the idea of having my parents back even though I knew both of them are dead." He explained to her, gently but in a stern voice to get his point across.</p><p>"It's just nice to imagine for a bit that they're all here," she said, her voice breaking toward the end.</p><p>Harry nodded. "It is, but you can't waste your life in front of a mirror waiting for things to change." She sighed and nodded, feeling her heart sink a little.</p><p>"You're right, I know you are, but I can still wish." Harry placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a sympathetic smile.</p><p>"You can still wish. I know that I still do," he squeezed her shoulder and then pulled his hand away. She gave him a weak smile and then let out a soft yawn.</p><p>"I believe it's time we head back," Harry said and stood up off of the ground. He reached out a hand and she grabbed it. He pulled her up and they walked out of the large wood doors side by side.</p><p>They walked down the long dark hallways and were just heading past the great hall when they saw a furry cat with red eyes standing in front of them. It was Ms. Norris, Filch's darling cat. The cat let out a loud meow and fear immediately coursed through the two teenagers' bodies.</p><p>"Run!" Harry whisper shouted. They sprinted in the other direction and Euphemia tried to remember all the different locations of secret passageways. They looped around the corner and she pulled Harry into a small alcove behind a suit of armor. They ran down the pathway and came back out near the library. It was further away from their original destination, but they had gotten away from Filch.</p><p>Euphemia was determined to keep her record clean of detention slips if she could and would not appreciate it being ruined simply because of a silly trouble-making cat. Some people already thought that she was a scoundrel and didn't want to have a detention slip to confirm that she was.</p><p>Once the two were sure that they had escaped the clutches of Filch, they made it back towards Gryffindor Tower. Thankfully, the fat lady hadn't moved from her portrait to visit others while they were out and they were able to get back into the common room. The fire in the fireplace had gone down to a few glowing embers and the common room was dimly lit by the moonlight flowing through the windows.</p><p>Just as they were about to head up to their dormitories, Harry spoke. "Hey Euphe-, sorry, Effie," he stuttered while correcting himself. "I know that I wasn't the kindest at the beginning of the year, but is there a chance we could be friends instead of enemies?" He asked.</p><p>She gave a small smile. "I believe I could accept that," she responded.</p><p>Harry's face grew into a grin and he nodded. "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then." He spoke and gave her a small wave before heading up the stairs. She smiled to herself and walked up the stairs. She was glad that Harry wanted to be her friend and she was willing to give it, not wanting to be an enemy of his. She knew he wouldn't actually hurt her, knowing now that she wasn't a dark witch in the rising. </p><p>She went up to her bed and pulled the covers over her body and quickly drifted off to sleep, tired from being chased through the castle, the wide range of emotions she felt looking into the mirror, and the conversation she had had with Harry.</p><p>The next morning she woke up and took a quick shower before throwing on her school uniform. Her wild white hair fell over her shoulders and she considered trying to braid it but ditched the idea as she realized it was going to be one of those days where it wouldn't be tamed. She grabbed her book bag and walked down to the common room to see Harry heading down just at the same time looking more disheveled. He looked over at her and gave her a bright smile after rubbing his eyes for a second.</p><p>"Did you wake up two seconds ago, Potter?" Euphemia asked with a smile on her face.</p><p>He looked hurt for a second. "I thought you'd at least call me by my first name now that we're friends," he spoke and then laughed.</p><p>"Oh, I'm sorry," she paused and cleared her throat. "Harry," she said jokingly. "Come on, let's get going." She grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the portrait hole. Once he wasn't dragging his feet, she let go of his arm. They walked down the changing staircases and eventually made it to the great hall for breakfast.</p><p>They sat down next to each other at the table and started grabbing food and putting it on their plates. They didn't even notice the strange looks that they had been getting from the other Gryffindor's nearby. Euphemia looked up when she reached up for the orange juice and saw the looks that were being thrown at her and Harry.</p><p>"What's wrong?" She asked.</p><p>"I thought you two weren't speaking to each other," Hermione spoke with a questioning tone.</p><p>She looked at Harry and he looked at her, both of them at a loss for words. "We, uh, reconciled," she said and looked back to Hermione who was trying to hide a smile.</p><p>"Well, I'm glad. It was quite annoying trying to share time with two friends," she said and went back to her food. Euphemia and Harry chuckled and ate their food in peace.</p><p>Owls started to appear in the great hall, dropping letters and packages in front of students and teachers. A  brown owl stopped and placed the daily prophet in Euphemia's hand before landing on her shoulder. It stuck its leg out where she saw a little pouch hanging from the owl's leg. She placed a knut inside and the owl flew off and out of the great hall.</p><p>She flipped her paper open, completely ignoring the front page as it wasn't anything she didn't already know. As she went through breakfast, she chatted with George about their plans for the summer and thinking about maybe going to Diagon Alley at some point to hang out.</p><p>About halfway through, a black screech owl came flying down to drop a parcel in front of her. The owl sat on her shoulder and she looked at it curiously as it didn't leave after dropping off the parcel. It started chewing on a piece of her hair and she chuckled at the weird behavior.</p><p>She unwrapped the brown paper around the item and pulled out a book with the title Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. She was confused, but the word 'Grimm' resonated with her. She flipped the book over, looking to see if there was a note taped somewhere, but didn't see anything. She flipped the cover of the book open and saw a note scrawled inside.</p><p>She sat there in shock for who knows how long until Harry budged her shoulder. She snapped out of her catatonic state and closed the book quickly before anyone else could see.</p><p>"What's wrong?" He asked her.</p><p>She shook her head. "N-nothing," she stuttered. He didn't believe her though.</p><p>She looked around to see if someone was playing a sick trick on her like somebody might be sitting and cackling at the Slytherin table. She looked towards the doors to the great hall and saw a big black dog run by. She shot up from the table with the book still in her hand and ran out of the hall. Harry shouted after her to stop, but eventually got up to follow her.</p><p>Once she was out in the hall, she saw that there was no dog there. She felt her hair turn dark blue, wondering if she was living up to the Black family insanity. Someone came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She whipped around feeling startled and saw that it was just Harry. She was half expecting to see her father standing there behind her.</p><p>"What's wrong?" He asked looking at her with concerned eyes. "What was in the book?"</p><p>She looked at him with spooked eyes and she opened the book cover before handing it over to him. He stood with the same shocked expression.</p><p>I didn't forget about you.   - S. B.</p>
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